Navy v Notre Dame Sold Out

Saturday, March 24th, 2012

The Emerald Isle Classic game, due to take place in Aviva Stadium, Dublin on 1st September is a sell out. Tickets for the game went on sale to the general public on Tuesday 20th March and sold out within a very short time. An estimated 35,000 tickets have been sold to American fans which is a record for any event outside the USA . It is expected that more American fans will attend this game than the upcoming Olympic Games in London.

Aviva Stadium will stage one of the longest running traditions in American College Football as the United States Naval Academy host rivals, the University of Notre Dame this September 1st . Ireland’s corporate market has also reacted to the arrival of this unique event in Dublin, with all corporate boxes at the Aviva Stadium already sold out and the remaining corporate spaces in the stadium selling fast. As part of the build-up to the game, the Notre Dame band marched in the St. Patrick’s Festival Parade ahead of the ticket sale.

Naval Academy Athletic Directior, Chet Gladchuk commented: “We are delighted to bring this game to Ireland and we plan to bring the full show with us to make the most of this special occasion. This is one of our biggest rivalries and along with a great American Football game, we plan to showcase all of the game’s traditions including the jet fly-over, a 1,000 Midshipmen march, bands, along with a huge travelling alumni and support from both sides.” Gladchuk added, “the response from the US and corporate markets have been phenomenal and we hope the Irish will also come out in force to fill the Aviva Stadium for this great spectacle.”

The Navy-Notre Dame series has been played annually since 1927, making it the longest uninterrupted intersectional series in college football. Navy has emerged victorious in three of the past five years making the fixture a lot more competitive after decades of Notre Dame victories. Most Notre Dame and Navy fans consider the series a sacred tradition for historical reasons. Notre Dame, like many colleges, faced severe financial difficulties during World War II and during that time the US Navy made Notre Dame a training center and paid enough for usage of the facilities to keep the University afloat. Notre Dame has since extended an open invitation for Navy to play ‘the Fighting Irish’ in football and considers the game annual repayment on a debt of honour.

Please note that all ticketing enquiries should made to Ticketmaster Ireland (www.ticketmaster.ie), who are handling ticketing on behalf of Navy.

This entry was posted
on Saturday, March 24th, 2012 at 9:12 am and is filed under IAFA, IAFA Homepage, National & International.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.